Clash contents page magazine analysis

Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published 10 times a year by Music Republic Ltd after Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation.

The brand's content alternates between modern bands such as The Horrors, Florence & the Machine and Jamie xx as well as hip-hop artists like DJ Shadow, Kanye West and Beastie Boys, who have all had cover spots in recent issues. It concentrates on music and fashion, and often their effect on surrounding culture, as well as film and technology.

The masthead is a black font in bold, sans serif,It is all capitalised.

There is a gap between the T and the E. The T is sitting on some text and is smaller than the other font. The text reads “contents”.

Anchorage text There is no specific anchorage text Additional text Sub titles are in a bold stencil font. Page numbers and “features” is a grey thicker text than the subtitle. The body of text is small and in a sans serif font is in a simple. Categorised by colours link to the images on the page. There is a blue box with the text “free music downloads” inside it, with purple font bellow it following the same style as the body of text.

Images The back ground is plain and white, it includes a lot of white space.

The images are positioned around the appropriate feature text. The 4 images on the left/centre include “Adelle, Chasing Status, Wanda Jackson and Gruff Rhys”. In the images they include the page numbers in a colour appropriate circle, this links to the article and colour code. On the right side of the page there images of numerous artists with generic arty photos. The cover story image seems to have been shot in a studio, it looks clean and smart.

House style The house style is black, white, blue and pink with additional colours.

Connotations The masthead The masthead is very irregular and unusual, the use of the space between breaks up the word and disjoints it this is very

disconnecting and brings you out of typical reading, by doing this it makes you focus more on what is written. The typography is simple bold and stretched, the odd style used grabs the persons attention especially with it being the biggest thing on the pages, also the masthead is spread is over two pages, this isn’t seen on most contents, because  most contents are one page  It wouldn’t work effectively. even though they spread the masthead over two pages it still works effectively and does not look out of place. Using the issue number as part of the masthead is unconventional and isn’t seen in most magazines, this adds to the disconnecting feel of the magazine and it serves as a break in the masthead.

Anchorage text There is no clear anchorage text in this contents page, this is very unconventional but it attracts more attention to the main body of text that would usually be taken by the anchorage text.

Additional text The additional text breaks style from the masthead and is much more conventional, the additional text is positioned all over the page, this is very effective because it informs the reader greatly about the contents of the magazine, it is also effective because when customers are choosing the magazine they want to buy they like to find out what’s inside the magazine, this has a double effect because the amount of information in the additional text clearly states what is in the magazine, it also leads to a wider range of audience because the more information you advertise the larger the audience interest becomes. The subtitles are bold and effective, they grab your attention and you can quickly tell what the next part of text is about and if it interests you, it’s

effective because the subtitles are short, sharp and to the point.

“ADELLE” This clearly shows you who the page is about and then if you want to know more you read on. The text is aesthetically pleasing and flows well over the pages, they are positioned well and there is nothing distracting you from the text. There is a page and colour code system where the colours and page numbers are linked to the circle in the images, this helps show who they are and where the article is. The only unconventional part of the additional text is the blue box with the purple writing, I feel the makers of this page did this because they feel that “free music downloads” would be something worth the attention and advertisement, breaking order and convention is a very effective way of doing this.

Images/background The background was very simple but effective, the use of white makes the rest of the page and information stand out more, and it also doesn’t take the attention away from the rest of the page like an image background would. There is a lot of white space used in the page this is well used because it breaks up the text and makes it flow well across the page it is also very aesthetically pleasing and helps the page feel more open then it would be without.

Some of the images are placed on the left/centre of the page and break the two pieces of text this is effective because as you read long to the right you can see who the articles are about, they are also very simple and basic photos and don’t draw attention away from the magazine. The use of the simple fill circles with the images makes a contrast between the two making the image seem simpler in the process, the colour match with the article as well as the page number is convenient because it saves the reader time searching through the magazine looking for the right page and then having to go back, the images also quite simply sum up the artists style and fashion, leaving nothing to the imagination.

The images on the left also feature stars and people of interest this is expected in most magazines and is expected that they will draw attention to them. The images on the right surround the text and provide a type of fancy border to the text, this is effective positioning and is aesthetically pleasing. The images on the right also include stars and famous people. The other photos are generic photos and don’t make too much of a statement, but just enough to make you notice them. The image about the main feature article stands out, it seems to be clearly shot in a studio because everything is perfect and they have altered it, it’s also bigger than the rest of the images and is stretched like the masthead this gives it more attention than the other images.

House style The use of colour categorization is very effective, also following the house style with a few changes is well done because it draws your eye to where it needs to be.

Conclusion In conclusion the contents uses and breaks convention where needed to draw attention and add variety to the magazine, also it uses a colour code and page code this is much like billboards contents and is very useful and helpful for audiences I will try and take this into account and use some kind of tracker in my own magazine and I will also try and use and break conventions effectively like clash does.